Finding You
by Chlstarr
Summary: Princess Peach goes missing one day, and though it is Bowser's fault, he did NOT kidnap her this time, she fell into a portal that went to Hyrule, and so King Boo and Bowser team up to go find her.


AN: My final fiction entry for Kippea week, this one for Day 6 actually because two were done hastily as artwork submissions just to have something for those days of Kippea Week.

 _ **Loosely**_ based off of superblooper's Chalkboard Moon.

* * *

They had been lucky for quite some time now, for two months to be exact, and Bowser hadn't broken through his Peach amnesia despite forgetting why he tended to pick a fight with Mario all the time in the first place. At the time of that particular rescue on King Boo's part, Princess Peach didn't dare reveal the true identity of her savior, and instead wove a tale of a small rebellion within Bowser's ranks and in the end a very strong Paratroopa had dropped her off on her balcony.

However despite all of this, she still managed to go missing one day, and King Boo was desperate to find her before the Mario brothers did. The brothers and a search team of every castle guard on hand were constantly searching the woods just past the royal gardens. It was curious to the ghostly king as to why they all searched there since it wasn't anywhere close to his territory, and he had already searched the woods that _were his_ in case she decided to pay him a visit this time instead of the other way around.

Regardless, he did join the search from the shadows and managed to tread where everyone else simply avoided except for two people he didn't expect.

He was drawn in by the cries of Bowser Jr. through a rather large section of brambles, and found the young prince trying in vain to move his father who looked rather pitiful as he was kneeling on his knees and completely in a daze, the kind that looked like he did something that he regretted.

"Hello there, Junior." King Boo greeted first and foremost before finally having a chat with his old friend and fellow monarch.

"Uncle KB! Please help me snap Papa out of it! He's been like this since he chased Mama Peach into that tree and it swallowed her up! I'm sure she's fine but he's not listening to me!" Junior pleaded sadly. King Boo couldn't help but smile at the nickname the little prince gave him, but he had perked up right away at the information that she had been 'swallowed up' by the tree Bowser was gazing airily at.

"I'll do my best, Junior, and I'll even help get your Mama Peach out of that tree. Now, do me a small favor and go make sure no one finds this place, we wouldn't want them rescuing her prematurely when we rescue her ourselves, alright?" King Boo requested gently. Junior was happy to help in any way and dashed off after a very cheerful 'Ok!'

As soon as the little scamp was well out of ear shot, the kings could finally address each other properly.

"Bowser."

"Boo." Bowser growled but quite weakly in his exhausted sadness.

"I see you remember her finally." The ghost king had to point out the obvious for the sake of getting that card out on the table.

"And whose fault is it for making me forget _her_ of all things in the first place? Why'd you even do it?" Bowser retorted sounding genuinely hurt.

"I gave you an implicated hint before I took your memories and just nearly gave myself away from merely glancing at her, and you still haven't figured it out?" King Boo countered, knowing Bowser, as bone headed as he was most of the time when his ego was in the way, could be smart when it came to reading between the lines when it counted.

"You love her too then, don't you?" The Koopa King finally realized in a slow, calculated sigh.

"With every fiber of my undead heart." King Boo quipped back without hesitance.

"You coulda told me you know." Bowser said off handedly.

"And risk your notoriously jealous wrath? Not a chance in a Putrid Piranha infested jungle with Fuzzies of all kinds on the side!" King Boo countered.

" _Alright_ , I know how I can be, but I woulda understood once I got over it. She's pretty great, right?" Bowser scoffed in knowing how he could be in the eyes of others, and then asked knowingly.

"Wonderful." King Boo sighed before remembering something that he had to ask. "What made you remember her?"

"In short, seeing her again. Now for the long explanation, it just didn't make sense to me to fight Mario over and over for petty revenge alone, and for the life of me I couldn't remember who was ruling the Mushroom Kingdom, so I came over to have a looksee and it all came back to me the second I saw her." Bowser explained, sounding genuinely remorseful as if he had been enlightened to her side of the situations he put her through time and time again. "I….also realize I've put her through a lot, and I tried to apologize when everything came back to me but as soon as I could get my bearings she was already running ten feet ahead of me and somehow ended up falling into that tree, though Junior's description was also pretty accurate of what it looked like."

"You _should_ be sorry, I've been protecting her from you in her dreams almost every night for the past four months or so, and very rarely is it any other villain that has held her hostage including a certain bat-like fellow you seemed to have teamed up with at one point!" King Boo berated his fellow monarch as if he were a foolish younger sibling.

"Antasma." Bowser growled with a weird mix of anger and pride. "I managed to betray him before he ever had the chance to betray me." He finished with a toothy grin. Then he remember his little situation with Peach and his ego deflated as he poked his two pointer fingers together in embarrassed shame. "Oh, and uh, do you think Peachy will ever forgive me?"

"Good for you for one-uping an amateur. And absolutely not, but its ok, because she won't forgive me for capturing the red former plumber twice either, even though she likes me for who I am regardless of my wrong doings." King Boo patted Bowser's shell rim knowingly. "Now, let's get her back, shall we? How much do you want to bet that she actually managed to use her magic to get away from you, hm?"

"I wouldn't gamble with the likes of you in case you win anyway, but she most likely used her weird wishing magic to get away from me and tripped on that tree that happened to be magical enough to grant that wish." Bowser groaned at first, slapping his palm to his face and dragged it down his face as he continued.

"Please tell me you're joking… _wishing_ magic?" The ghostly king couldn't believe it honestly, it sounded extremely asinine.

"Nope, I'm dead serious. She definitely accidentally used it here since she tripped and fell into that tree, but otherwise she's stronger with it so long as she has a Star Sprite like Chippy…I mean _Starlow_ or something or other, right by her side! I think she even tossed me out the window and into the forest with it during the Blorbs epidemic Fawful caused, but I could've dreamed that…Felt real to me anyway." Bowser explained and shrugged by the end of his explanation.

"Fascinating! And here I thought her magic had something to do with her pure heart alone." King Boo couldn't help but mention, as he had replaced Mario in that Shadow Queen nightmare of hers and witnessed her magic first hand then.

Getting back to the task at hand, King Boo neared the tree and started to feel around it with his magic.

"C'mon, where is she?" He asked desperately under his breath in an almost hiss. And miraculously enough, a separate portal opened right next to the tree. "Well… that was lucky."

"Lucky, or preordained because of some random prophesy we don't know about from Fate and Destiny?" Bowser asked suspiciously, as even he knew King Boo didn't use that much magic.

"How about we cross that bridge when we get there and worry about it later? Now let's go get our beloved princess, shall we?" King Boo countered and floated about an equivalent to a single footstep before Bowser interrupted him with another question.

"You're letting me come with you?"

"Of course, especially if you really want to apologize, I'm the only one she'll listen to in order for her to even _let_ you get a word in." The ghost king replied automatically. Then he sighed as he decided to be real with his old friend, floating back over to Bowser to even touch the side of his snout for emphasis on the things he had to say. "Look, I know how you are, and as of late I've come to know how she is. If you truly want her to love you in any way, shape, or form, then you're going to have to work at it and be patient about it. There are no shortcuts to winning her heart, and especially from where you stand with her right now, thus, you have to work from the ground up. If she can stand the likes of me, she can certainly tolerate the likes of you so long as you work for the sake of her happiness, as you must put that above all else at times." 'At times', because Bowser did have Junior to tend to and worry about.

"Thanks, I needed that." Bowser said gratefully. "Now, I'm ready to go get Peachy back."

"That's the spirit!" King Boo crowed, then realized something that he had to slightly correct. "Pun _not_ intended."

"Didn't even notice. You coming with, or what?" Bowser retorted lightly and asked as he got up and headed for the portal.

"Naturally." King Boo quipped, and followed Bowser through the portal.

* * *

The portal itself had felt stranger than a warp pipe's shift in gravity under certain circumstances. Not to mention they both felt physical changes, as if a power up had become active on them or something, and in fact they both felt like they were spit out of the other end of the portal as they were flung forward and landed on their stomachs…which was immensely surprising for King Boo.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the changes immediately. He had actual hands, like Peach's, and when he looked down he first realized he actually had a neck and he had more body to him than before! And he was somehow dressed! Like a human noble, well, more like a duke than a king as it wasn't often that kings wore cravats. He was wearing white otherwise as that was his best color, and he had purple outlines throughout his suit, interestingly enough.

Out of curiosity, he turned to look at how Bowser had fared, and wasn't surprised that he had turned human-like too but he wasn't wearing much of anything other than what King Boo could only assume was his undergarments from what was under his shell. Human-like specifically because unlike Peach, Bowser had pointed ears, like how elves from fairy tales were supposed to have. Curious about himself again King Boo felt his new face and the side of his head, feeling that he had hair, and pointed ears as well. He wanted to see a mirror to see what he looked like but he already knew that would have to wait, as they were in a forest.

" _WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME?!"_ Bowser shrilled as he finally came to, looking wildly at all his extremities. Yes, even _there_ , and he calmed down at the sight of it, as its size boosted his ego. He felt lighter otherwise and realized he could twist his torso quite a bit as he checked to see if his shell was still there, which it wasn't…not entirely anyway.

"Your shell seems to have turned into a very realistic looking tattoo on your back." King Boo offered for him. At his words, Bowser finally got a good look at the ghost king.

"What the hell happened to _you?"_ The Koopa King asked in a much calmer tone but was still obviously bewildered.

"Same thing that happened to you of course. Could you tell me what color my hair is? You're still a red head by the way." King Boo replied.

"Well, your hair is white like you always were, and your eyes are still yellow with that darkness around them because of that topaz in your crown." Bowser told him honestly.

"And your hair is unruly enough that we might have to braid it so you don't look like a barbarian, even though you already do since you have no clothes besides those…undergarments." King Boo felt the need to mention, as it was going to be cumbersome traveling and running into people in the way they were now.

"Braids aren't manly! And there's no way I'm letting you touch my hair, I don't care how unruly it is!" Bowser exclaimed in defiance, instantly putting his hands on his head to shield his hair from any of King Boo's tricks, as he was the master of illusions after all. Though already Bowser was having second thoughts as he felt the length of his hair was longer, and if it was as unruly as King Boo had said, then he was going to need to do something with it.

"Fine, I'll leave your hair alone. But you still need clothes so I'm going to think of some and hope it works." King Boo already had something in mind, and snapped his new fingers full of magic and aimed it at Bowser, leaving the humanized Koopa King in rather average looking clothes. A beige shirt and a dark green vest with some brown pants that were neither formal nor too baggy, and some average brown boots that Bowser tried not to think too hard about in them looking like they belong on some plumber feet that he knew all too well.

"Really? You're dressed all regal and stuff and you have the gall to stick me in peasant clothes?" Bowser asked ungratefully as he looked down at himself, but upon not getting a response he looked up and saw that King Boo's attention was towards something behind them but above where they came from. "Hey! Are you even listening to-! Me?" Bowser yelled but decided to look at whatever got his fellow monarch's attention and strangely recognized it.

Though they were clearly in a forest judging by the trees and greenery ahead and around them respectively, and by how fresh the air smelled here, around them in this little area was a stone wall, and behind them directly was a structure of some sort of an ancient looking entryway to what was possibly a temple judging by the strange symbol above the archway, and there was a broken stair case that didn't go down very far so if anyone wanted to go up there, they needed to find some other way.

Bowser, noting how familiar all this was starting to look, and that bothered him greatly, he finally looked around to soak in his surroundings. There was a… well it was way too big to be a pedestal, a pad maybe, it had that same symbol as the archway on it…as well as three golden triangles over that symbol. In the corner on Bowser's right there was even a stone with what looked like an obscure crying eye, and behind King Boo was a stump and their portal home was right above it.

"This is starting to look a lot like a video game Junior has, and because of all the coincidences I'm seeing, I think I know where we are." Bowser decided to mention, and as he remembered even more details about the game in Junior's possession, he remembered that he probably looked a bit like the main villain since his hair was red. Bowser then looked at the color of his skin…and at least that's where the similarities stopped. He was tan, about the same color as his own scales were, and there was no way he would look like he was from the desert. Just a farmer maybe, but no more than that.

"I babysat Junior a few times when he was just past his hatchling stage, remember? I believe I know exactly what videogame you're talking about. We're in Hyrule, aren't we?" King Boo quipped as he came out of his stupor took in their surroundings as well.

"Yeah, and though I hate to admit it, I'm gonna take you up on your offer of braiding my hair. Just don't put any stupid flowers in it, _alright?"_ Bowser relented and requested harshly for the sake of _manly_ emphasis.

"Are you sure? Yellow flowers are her favorite, and they will make you more approachable, and I do make a _mean_ flower crown." King Boo teased.

"Not until we find her." Bowser huffed in impatience. King Boo nodded, floated over to him and got right to work in making what was formerly Bowser's mane into one big braid, and he tied it up with another bit of magic and illusion.

Now that they were as settled as they could get with their appearances they set out in search of their beloved princess. They mostly had a hope and a prayer to go on that Peach was lucky enough to have gotten hospitality at Hyrule Castle, and from where they were they could only hope the short cuts in the forest actually worked.

Bowser was remarkably lucky to have remembered that the short cut through Zora River was their best bet of getting to Castle town in good time. After a bit of wandering and trial and error they managed to find it, the pool of water with its own little archway to indicate that it went somewhere far outside the forest.

King Boo merely drifted in and through, but Bowser had to get used to swimming in his new body but thankfully it didn't take him long as he realized his new limbs made it much easier than he was used to. After popping up and out on the other side, they followed the river down and away from the waterfall. Bowser swam the rest of the way as soon as it was deep enough, while King Boo kept floating as he followed along the river and Bowser's position, and rolling his eyes at the childish antics of his fellow monarch. Though he did entertain himself with being able to see his reflection a little in the water's surface, and he had to admit, he was quite handsome, but he could only hope that Princess Peach thought so too, even if it was temporary.

Eventually after getting past what was really a narrow canyon with a river in it, the land opened up greatly as they could see Lon Lon Ranch in the distance, and they passed by the steps to Kakariko Village. As soon as they got to the castle walls, Bowser climbed out of the river, and started booking it as he vaguely remembered that they closed the castle town gates at night to keep the Stalchildren at bay. King Boo followed closely behind remembering the same because Junior took a very long time to figure out that it was safer to stay in the river at night when one is locked out of the town.

They managed to make it just at sunset relieved to be in the safety of the town but aggravated that they'd still have to wait because there was no way they would be able to reach her at this hour, even if they snuck in…well there was an idea.

"I can still get in because they can't touch me, unless the princess of this kingdom uses her magic I assume." King Boo mentioned excitedly, happy that he actually thought of it.

"Sounds like a good plan to me, but what do I do?" Bowser asked, equally excited that Peach was practically in their reach, but worried for a moment that he wouldn't be able to see her until the next day already.

"You probably can't breathe fire now, and you've definitely lost some of your strength with your missing bulk. So I suggest you wait here and find a place to sleep for the night. Even when I find her, she's not going to just leave her place of hospitality unannounced at this hour." King Boo explained.

"Right. That makes sense. Just let me know that she's doing ok when you get back, alright?" Bowser requested slightly gruffly, but only because he really was worried about Peach.

"Of course." King Boo replied and flew off towards Hyrule Castle. He flew high enough that he wouldn't be too suspicious looking, hoping that he looked enough like a bird to fool anyone in these truly medieval times.

As soon as he was above the courtyard, he flew down towards it and decided to rest himself on the branch of a tree. He wasn't about to phase into any rooms in case he accidentally walked in on her, and seeing little choice in the matter he decided to lure her out. He summoned his trusty violin and began to play Clair de Lune hoping with all his undead heart that she'd hear it from wherever she was.

Peach was lying on her stomach on her bed going over her hand made translation dictionary from Hylian to her language, and since she was doing some night studying, she wasn't dressed for bed yet, when she heard a familiar song that she wasn't sure was possibly also in this world. Out of curiosity she got up and went to her window to find the source, not expecting to find it right away on a tree across the way. For there playing the violin, was a man with white hair that looked silver in the moonlight, and was dressed in a white suit and purple accents, his shoes were black however, with a very polished shine. It was his crown that gave him away though, as she knew it anywhere, still flattered to this day that he had stuck with the first jewel that she had suggested to him.

"It's still a lovely rendition, you silly balloon. Though I suppose I can't call you that now, can I?" She managed to say just over his music, but quiet enough that anyone who had noticed his presence wouldn't know she was somewhat in cahoots with him. When he looked up finally, his eyes, though still yellow, looked extremely gentle even with the usual darkness around them, not to mention he looked so relieved to see her.

"I'm so glad you're alright, my dear. We've been worried sick about you, even if it has only been a few hours." King Boo replied to her, having stopped playing as soon as he heard her voice, and floating over to her, taking one of her hands in his and linking their fingers together (because he finally could) and cupping her cheek affectionately with his other hand.

"We? _Hours?_ But I've been here for months!" Peach exclaimed in confusion, but in a whisper exclamation so she wouldn't disturb anyone.

"Huh, must be a time difference between dimensions." King Boo concluded in thought aloud. Then he pulled away from her a little as he knew her initial reaction to his traveling companion thus far wouldn't be agreeable with her. "As for the 'we', I traveled with someone I know you won't like, even if he has come all this way to desperately apologize to you, and has promised to behave better for the sake of your happiness." He told her bashfully, poking his index fingers together.

Peach sucked in a breath, knowing exactly who he was referring to. But before she could say anything on the matter, she noticed someone else she had come to care for in her time here in Hyrule, and she could tell even from this distance that he was readying a small weapon.

"Look out!" She cried as she grabbed King Boo by his suit's lapels and dragged him in and just away from the window, just as a kunai pierced the air past them and lodged itself into the bedroom door.

King Boo glared daggers at the weapon and thanked the stars of their home world as well as the goddesses of this one that Peach just _happened_ to _**forget**_ that he was a ghost, as that implicated that she could have been hurt by the weapon because it would have gone right through him.

"Please, don't. That was just a friend of mine who had promised to keep me safe during my time here, he didn't know." Peach pleaded as she saw the death glare in his eyes even as he kept his gaze away from her and at the kunai behind him. And as if to prove her point further from the way it looks, she tactfully shifted them so that she had pinned him against the wall, knowing that the owner of the kunai would come to check to see if she was alright.

Distracted from her movement and how she positioned them, King Boo decided to do everything she asked of him as he already wanted to see how this would play out. Especially since grabbing him she had moved her arms around his neck and one of her hands was along the back of his head, and most likely subconsciously stroking his hair. _It felt nice_ , despite that she wasn't saying anything and kept her gaze on the window, waiting for something…or someone since it was a friend of hers that was only trying to protect her, though he also couldn't help but idly note that she was still human herself, coming into this world didn't give her Hylian ears like he and Bowser had gotten, so that was a bit strange.

Finally, that friend of hers made for her open window since it was faster and more efficient and for the sake of whether or not she needed his assistance.

"Peach! Are you alrigh-!" The youth crouching on the edge of her window called in worry but instantly took in the positioning and stopped himself. Trying not to narrow his eyes at the extremely suspicious looking yellowed eyed man in Peach's arms.

"I'm fine Sheik, but I'd greatly appreciate it if you didn't try stabbing my friends in the back like that." She told him gratefully but sternly. "This is-!"

"Beauregard, King Beauregard, but otherwise she may have referred to me as King Boo in any stories she told of our homeland." King Boo held out his hand in a friendly gesture in an attempt for a handshake but Peach still hadn't let up on him, which made the positioning extremely awkward.

Realizing it was probably best to look more appropriate and to subtly let Sheik down easy, she finally let go of the ghost king and patted out invisible dust for the sake of regaining her composure.

"Since he's here," Peach began, but Sheik finished her thought for her since it was already obvious.

"That means you'll be able to go home…assuming he still knows where the portal is." Sheik mentioned suspiciously, still narrowing his eyes at King Boo.

"Sacred Forest right above the lone stump in front of the Forest Temple. And even if it's closed, I can still reopen it with my magic." King Boo replied confidently, and decided to finally voice his irritation to the boy who unknowingly almost did something…extremely regrettable. "Just so you know, I really am a ghost. And you should consider yourself extremely lucky that our dear Princess Peach forgot that fact and inevitably saved herself rather than me." To further emphasize the truth in his ghostliness, he made himself more transparent and half traversed through the wall, pleased to see the Sheikah flinch for a number of reasons, then he left Peach with one last thing to mention. "Might as well pack your things, dearest, and say your goodbye's in the morning, my cohort that I mentioned to you earlier, and I will be waiting for you around the Temple of Time." He backed up a bit to kiss the back of her hand as he always did when leaving her side, and then fully went on his way through the wall.

Which left the princess and the Sheikah youth alone, and Peach couldn't quite look at him directly.

"So, I guess this is it then." Sheik clicked his tongue not knowing what else to say, as it would be a bit ungentlemanly to say 'at least you won't be married off and kicked out of the castle by spring.' But then he had a wonderful idea even it might be a bit late in the evening for it. "Any last requests on places to see before you go?"

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden on such short notice." Peach asked worriedly.

"Nonsense, your time here should go out with a bang. I could take you to Kakariko Village, my home town, if you so wished." He offered nonchalantly.

"Really? I'd love to." Her eyes lit up immediately, and she ran into his open arms knowing he'd either carry her there or teleport her there.

* * *

Meanwhile, King Boo had stayed hidden in the shadows for the rest of that conversation, out of curiosity rather than jealousy. His theory about Sheik being his own person seemed to be correct as far as he could tell. But he was still obviously trapped in a girl's body and since Peach had been in his life for months…what better opportunity for King boo to strike a deal and make a wish come true, after all, he was already used to the idea of having to share her, what's one more to add to her harem of men who adore her for who she is? For now, he'd leave them alone as he had to track down Bowser to make him wait at the Temple of Time.

Long after Peach said her goodbyes the next morning, Sheik finally appeared and insisted on escorting her to her escorts from home. They found them near the Temple of Time with no problem, but of course King Boo wanted to have a word with Sheik in private before they left, plus it would give Peach and Bowser time to talk.

"So what is this about exactly?" Sheik asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the others, though Zelda 'sat upright' in attention at the back of his mind since collectively they both did not trust this ghostly king for the life of either of them.

"It's about you actually, how would you like to be free of that body that really isn't yours and continue being with our dear Princess Peach?" King Boo asked out right, not shocked by the Sheikah's gasp and instinctual jump back.

"How do you-?"

"In all honesty of getting to the point, it absolutely does not matter how I know besides the fact that I'm a ghost and even I can tell that you're supposed to be dead, boy. Now make your choice. By leaving with us now, you'll have to travel with your soul in a bottle until we get back home where our dimension's natural magic will allow you to be yourself… a ghostly version of yourself, but you'll still have control of what you can touch at least. And you will have to share her, as she does have a few admirers, myself and her champion included. So what say you?" King Boo interrupted, and explained, tactfully leaving out Bowser since he still had a lot to redeem for, and finishing off with the ultimate question that was all too easy to answer for Sheik.

Zelda needed to get married soon anyway, and he didn't want to be around in the back of her mind for what came after the wedding, and he already knew he couldn't live without Peach either, so of course his answer was yes.

* * *

Because the extraction process of Sheik's soul was magically quick, and the cat was officially out of the bag, Zelda briefly explained herself and Sheik's situation to the confused Mushroom princess, and also ended up teleporting them to the sacred meadow, but she didn't stick around for any final goodbyes as she was still quite humiliated by even having to reveal one of her deepest secrets even if she was now forever free from it… or rather, him, it would take a while for her to adjust to the quietness of her mind again.

In any case Bowser groaned before they all entered the portal because they forgot to do one specific thing that would have really only been beneficial to him and his ego.

"Argh! We forgot to go to Lon Lon Ranch before we left!"

"Oh, and they didn't let me sightsee all that much either so I haven't been either, but what's so special that you wanted to go to it, Bowser?" Peach admitted bashfully and asked curiously.

"Nothing except the fact the ranchers wear his actual mug that we're used to as their pendants." King Boo answered for her.

"Please tell me you're kidding." Peach said in a flat, disbelieving tone.

"I honestly wish I was." King Boo quipped while Bowser laughed proudly. Even Sheik rolled his eyes from within the bottle Peach had elected herself to carry.

Upon re-entering the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser and King Boo instantly reverted to normal, and as Peach let Sheik out of the bottle, the ghost king coached him through it to stay on this plane of existence of not going into the light, and focusing on everything he wanted to do along Peach's side. It took a number of minutes but eventually Sheik was successful enough that he maintained the shape of the boy he had always been (even when he was inside Zelda's body).

Though Bowser had to continue making up for all of his wrong doings to her and her kingdom, he eventually won his way into her heart and relented in sharing her with King Boo and Sheik, and they all lived happily ever after.


End file.
